Rotary Club is near goal for Pure Water fund-raiser

By Lori O'Brien

Correspondent

HOLYOKE Holyoke Rotarians have "adopted" a village in Honduras through Pure Water for the World that will provide 130 families a lifetime of pure water.

Through pledges and help from corporate sponsors and the community, the Holyoke Rotary Club is just short of its goal of raising $10,000 to make this dream a reality. A wine tasting event that is open to the public is the final fund-raiser to ensure a successful campaign.

The wine tasting fund-raiser is planned June 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Loomis Village in South Hadley. Laurel Pure is the major sponsor for the event, while the Holyoke Liquor Mart is providing the wine for the fund-raiser.

The Board of the Holyoke Rotary hope to send $5,000 in June and another $5,000 at the end of the year to Pure Water for the World, an international organization that provides sustainable clean drinking water to families and communities in developing countries ensuring healthier and more productive lives for children and their families. Several Holyoke Rotarians are expected to make the trek to the village of Yuscaran in 2007 to see the results of its fund-raising efforts.

Rotary International and Rotary District 7890, which includes Holyoke, is helping Pure Water for the World assist villages in developing countries that have polluted surface water sources. In Honduras, 80 percent of the illnesses detected originate from the water that is consumed, and 50,000 children under the age of five die every year from the effects of drinking impure water.

Holyoke Rotarians will be buying household sand filters that are made in Honduras for the villagers of Yuscaran, according to Lasca Hoey, a 15-year member of the Holyoke Rotary, who recently spoke with Reminder Publications.

Since most rural Hondurans acquire their water from polluted surface water sources, the sand filters are a proven, reliable method for purifying water. In addition, the filters are cost-effective and simple to build, install and use.

In its commercial format, the filter is about the size of an office water cooler, constructed of concrete and plastic pipe, and filled with multiple grades of sand and gravel that are effective at reducing waterborne pathogens.

Rotarians who are serving on the Pure Water Committee include Wayne Gass, chairperson; Ed McCarron, Sheryl Quinn, Louis Gorman, Gail Pisacane, Joan Kagan Levine, Gollie Root and Hoey.

"This is an outstanding opportunity to make a difference in one part of the world," said Gass in a recent fund-raising letter to business leaders.

Tickets for the wine tasting are $25 per person and can be purchased from any Rotary member or by calling Rotarian Hoey at (413) 532-2375. Tickets will also be available at the door.

Corporate sponsorships are still available for the event. Companies interested in sponsoring the wine tasting can contact Hoey for more information.

Area residents unable to attend the event but who would like to make a donation to the sand filter project can make checks payable to the Holyoke Rotary Foundation, P.O. Box 1396, Holyoke, MA 01041-1396.